Chain welding machine



Filed July 20, 1927 2 Sheets-5het 1 r 1 W i I Earl A. 111181 Inven cor 3 Maw/12mm Attornegs Nov. 24, 1931.

E. A. STULLER 1,833,444

CHAIN WELDING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 64 Q III III E13. 6 E-qfl A. 511111161 Inventor Attorne qs Patented Nov. 24, 1931 A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EARL A. STULLER, F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE CLEVELAND CHAIN AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO CHAIN WELDING MACHINE Application filed July 20,

My invention relates to chain welding machines, and the principal object of my invention is to provide a new and improved machine of this type. In the drawings accompanying this specification and forming a part ticularly the chain advancing mechanism,

while Figure 6 is a section taken on the line 66 of Figure 1 also showing particularly the chain advancing mechanism.

The embodiment of my invention herein shown comprises welding mechanism 11 for welding together the two sides of the opening in each link of the chain, burr removing mechanism 12 for removing the burr formed by the weld, chain lifting mechanisms 13 and 14 for lifting the chain clear of the welding mechanism 11 to permit advance of the chain to present a succeeding link into position to be welded, and advancing mechanism 15 for advancing the chain to present a succeeding link in position to be welded, all operated from a common drive shaft 16 mounted in bearings 17- carried by a table 18 supported by a suitable pedestal 19.

The welding mechanism 11 herein shown comprises a'pair of blocks 20 carrying electrodes 21 adapted to be advanced into position engaging the chain link on opposite sides of the cut to weld the link at the cut, or to be retracted from the chain link to permit lifting and advance of the chain; to permit this movement of the electrodes 21 the blocks "20 are pivoted to the table 18 and22; the

oscillation of the blocks 20 and electrodes 21 about the pivots 22 to advance the electrodes 1927. Serial No. 207,100.

by face cams 23 mounted on the operating shaft 16 and engaging rollers 24 carried by levers 25 secured to the blocks 20 by means of suitable bolts 27; while oscillation of. the blocks 20 and electrodes 21 to withdraw the electrodes-21 from the chain link is effected, under control of the cams 23, by springs 28 tensionedbetween the blocks 20 and the table 18.

The welding mechanism 11 also comprises means for holding secure the link being welded, shown herein as comprising a pair of levers 29 pivoted at 30, provided at their forward ends with jaws 31 for engaging the link, and operated by means ofa cam 32 interposed between the two face cams 23 and engaging rollers 34 carried by the rear ends of the levers 29.

The burr removing mechanism 12 is of a well known type, and comprises a lever 35- pivoted to the table 18 at 36, carrying burr removing dies at their forward ends 37, and operated by the action on its rear end 38 of a cam 39 mounted on the operating shaft 16.

The chain raising mechanism 14 comprises a bracket 40 formed to support the chain and itself supported upon a plunger 41 mounted for vertical reciprocation in a guide 42 which is secured to the table 18 by means of bolts 43 and is reciprocated by a cam 44 secured to the operating shaft 16 and actuating the plunger 41 by means of a roller 45 secured to the upper end of a strut 46 rigid with a lever 47 pivoted at its free end at to the lower end of the plunger 41 and pivotally mounted at 48 to a supporting bracket 49 depending from the lower side of thetable 18.

The chain lifting mechanism 13 comprises a bracket 51 similarly operated by a cam 52 also carried by the operating shaft 16.

The chain advancing mechanism 15 comprises a finger 53 mounted upon a reciprocating carrier 54 and formed to engage the chain to advance the chain, and reciprocated by reciprocation of the reciprocating carrier 54 effected by a face cam 55 formed in a disc 56 actuating the carrier 54 by means of a link 57 pivoted at one end at 58 to thereciprocating carrier 54 and at the other end at 59 adjustably along a slot 60 to a lever 61 which is rve h' to pos V pivoted at 62 to a bracket 63 depending from the lower face of the table 18 and is in turn operated byengagement of a projecting pin within the groove of the face cam 55.

It willi'of course be understood that adjustment of the pivot point 59' along the groove 60 will vary the stroke'imparted to the reciprocating carrier 54:, and to the finger 53, vtothus permit adjustment of the stroke ottheftinger 5,3 proper tor the length, oflink being welded. 1 C

At the same time it also will be understood that in the absence of further mechanisrn the finger 53 not only would advance, the chain upon advance of the reciprocating carrier 54: j

but also would correspondingly retract the chain uponretraction of the reciprocating 'carrier 54 and accordingly that some means 'mustbe provided to cause thefinger 53 to act upon the chain only upon advance ot the recip a g arrie 54: i Inthe embodiment of-my invention herein shown this'resultiis attained bysupporting the reciprocating carrier 54 in ablock 7 9 carried by the upper end a of 'a vertically reciprocating plunger 6% which is mounted in a guideway secured to the table' 18 by means otbolts. 6'6 and is 'operated by a rim cam '67 on the-disc '56 through 'a'r'oller 68 engaged by the rim cam 67*z'tncl' carried by the upper end of a strut 69 projecting trom a lever-70 pivoted'at its treeend at 71"to the lower end ofth'e plunger 64; and pivotally mounted at 72 upon a bracket 73 dependingpfrom 'the lower face ot the tab-1e is,

' Thedisc' 56 operated from the operating shatt -16 by means'ot a jack shaft'l'mounted s in suitable bearings 75 secured'to the table 18, carrying at one end the disc 56, and carry- "ing-at the other end a bevel gear 7 G'meshing -iwitha like bevel gear mounted on'the operating shaft-16. I

' From the above description it will be obvi: ousto'thoseskilledin the art that for each weldingmechanisml1, the-advancing mech- "anism 1 5 operated to advance the chai'nto *present a succeeding link into position to be welded, and the li-ftingmechanismsll and-14 "are again operated-to lower the chain into p'ositionfready for the succeeding link to be actecl uponby the welding mechanism 11. It

- I also ,wil'l'b'e'understood that (111ring the action 7 of the welding mechanism 11 the burr removiing mechanism 12, is; operatedto remove the "burr from that link which has then been'adtion between the aws of the 1burrremoving'mechanism; i 65" clutch: .78: that the particular advantage :is that under Under these circumstances ri ly be obvious tofthose, skilled intheart that in the art that the time consumed for'thej welding of each link is composed ofthe time consumed in actually welding the link plus the time consumed in presenting a new link into position tor welding, that with given welding conditions the time consumed in actually welding-each link cannot be de creased, and accordingly that the time per link can be decreased only by decreasing the period required for presenting anew link into position 'to'r weldlng." From the above description and partlcularly from a consider-V ation of th e tace cam 28 as shown in Figure 3,

it will; be apparent to those skilled in the art that the mechanism which I have herein shown anddescribed so greatlylreduces, the

time consumed in advancing a new link into position as for the firstItinie to permit the welding operation to consume morefthan halt the cycle, and accordinglyv it will be understoodby those'skilled in the art that the em-l bodiment of my invention herein shown materially reduces thetimeiconsumed per link w elded. I r 1 ,4 v, 1

Under many circumstances the increase in the proportion ofthe ,cycleiduring which the welding mechanism 11 is operative is c'ient to permit the Weldingmachine being operated by continuous rotation :of the operating shaft 16 butunder other circumstances even this increased proportionis insuificient,

and under those conditions Iotcourseactu; atetheoperatingshaft:16 through the usual intermittent clutch :7 8 arrangedupon.{each actuation to rotate the operating shaft 16 from a position in which the welding mechanism 11 is operative through acomplete'cycle back to the same position inwhich the weld ing mechanism ll-is fully operatingupon the succeeding link; ltoi course: will he understood that even when it is necessary to employ the intermittent clutch 78 the increase in proportion'of the cycle during which the "welding mechanism 11 is operativestill reduces the total time per link, and accordingly that the advantage of the machine herein shown in reducing "the PTOPOIlJlQIlOftllQ cycle necessary tov advance the chain is retained under all circumstances either with or without the employment of the, intermittent It will, he understood; however many conditions this reduction in the time ation' of the :machine.

it will necessathe*"embod-iinent of my; invention: herein shownfdoes provide a new and-' improved welding machine and accordingly accomplishes at least thepri-ncipal object of my j r vention. V y

" At the same-time also will be underst od nan-1 treat se-b apparent toth osesk i-lled h those skilled in the art that the cmbqdiment of my invention herein shown and described embodies advantages other than those particularly pointed out or suggested herein, and also that this particular embodiment of my invention may be variously changed and modified without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing the advantages thereof, and it therefore will be understood that the disclosure herein is illustrative only, and that my invention is not limited thereto.

I claim:

1. A chain welding machine comprising: welding means for welding a link of a chain, saidwelding means requiring a predetermined minimum time for effecting the welding operation advancing means for removing the welded link and presenting an unwelded link to said welding means; and operating mechanism, including a driving shaft, and having means so proportioned and coordinated as to be operable in two successive fractional phases to effect one complete cycle of welding and advancing movements during one revolution of said shaft, one of said fractional phases comprising operation of said welding means during rotation of said shaft in excess of degrees in the predetermined minimum time for welding, and the other fractional phase comprising operation of said advancing means during the completion of the said one revolution of said shaft and within a period of time less than the minimum time required for the welding operation phase.

2. A chain welding machine comprising: welding means for welding a link of a chain, said welding means requiring a predetermined minimum time for effecting the welding operation; advancing means for lifting, advancing, and lowering said chain, thereby removing the welded link and presenting an unwelded link to said Welding means; and operating mechanism, including a driving shaft, and having means so proportioned and coordinated as to be operable in two successive fractional phases to effect one complete cycle of welding and advancing movements during one revolution of said shaft, one of said fractional phases comprising operation of said welding means during rotation of said shaft in excess of 180 degrees in the predetermined minimum time for welding and the other fractional phase comprising operation of said advancing means during the completion of the said one revolution of said shaft and within a period of time less than the minimum time required for the welding operation phase.

' In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

EARL A. STULLER. 

